Sunday, March 8, 2009

Largest Animal That Ever Lived

At 100 feet long and close to 200 tons, Balaenoptera musculus, the Blue Whale, is the largest animal that has ever lived. That's roughly the length of a basketball court and the weight of 40 elephants (check out the National Geographic comparison charts). National Geographic is running a show tonight on the behemoth. Check out a wikipedia list of the largest organisms here. That the giant Blue Whale remains mysterious is reminder of how little we know about the oceans that cover 2/3 of the world.